As a child growing up in rural Toxey, Ala., author Mary Monroe said she only fantasized about writing books.

"I was born with an imagination that wouldn't stop," she said.

At age 12, Monroe began telling stories and sending out manuscripts. She said she received criticism from her family, who considered reading "unnecessary."

Now -- with nine books under her belt -- her latest release, "Deliver Me from Evil," is receiving rave reviews.

Monroe will hold a book signing promoting her new novel at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 11, at the Orangeburg Wal-Mart and a discussion and book signing at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 12, at the Books-A-Million on Forest Drive in Columbia.

In "Deliver Me from Evil," the protagonist, Christine Thurman, is living a seeming lavish life. She helped her husband build a business worth millions, but after years of marriage, he becomes obsessed with his empire, and Christine feels trapped and alone. She begins an affair and becomes involved in a risky endeavor she hopes will bring her all the happiness she's missing.

Monroe said the novel deals with a delicate subject for her. Having married at a young age, she said she dealt with many of the hardships Christine endures in her marriage.

In fact, Monroe said much of her work is autobiographical from her experiences as a child; many of her characters are composites of family members and people she's met throughout her life.

Her protagonists portray those on the fringe of society who have often been subjected to verbal and physical abuse. They seem to live a "double life" -- a perfect, well-to-do life on the outside, but silently suffering on the inside, and they often learn lessons in the end -- lessons, Monroe said, she learned in her past.

The black sheep of her family, Monroe said she is persistent in her passion for writing despite the continued criticism and lack of encouragement from family members.

"It's part of who I am, and I'd do it even if I didn't get published," she said.

The third child of sharecroppers, Monroe said she was surrounded by people who were satisfied with being uneducated and escaped by reading anything on which she could get her hands. Old newspapers, Sears & Roebucks catalogues and church literature provided her with an escape from working in the cotton fields and the complacent, uneducated mentality of her surroundings, she said.

Monroe credited reading with changing her life.

"Reading made me realize that I had more options than I'd been taught to believe," she said.

The first and only member of her family to graduate from high school, Monroe said, "I graduated high school by the skin of my teeth," and never attended college or took any writing classes.

Monroe now reads at least three books a week, crediting some of her favorite novels to Stephen King, James Patterson, Danielle Steele and Richard Wright. She said she's read her all-time favorite, Khaled Hosseini's "The Kite Runner," twice, finding similarities between her characters and the protagonist in his novel.

With each new book release of her own, Monroe said she takes the good with the bad.

"You're never going to please everyone," she said, comparing each new release to pregnancy. "You never know what your child will look like, who will like or dislike him or her.

"My goal is to please as many people as I can, especially those who enjoy my work."

Monroe's novels include "God Don't Like Ugly," which earned her the PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles National Literary Award and a nomination for the Black Writers Alliance's Golden Pen Award; "God Still Don't Like Ugly;" "The Upper Room;" "Red Light Wives;" "Gonna Lay Down My Burdens," which is named among BET.com's Best Books of 2002; the #1 Essence best-seller, "In Sh.jpgnglqutes Clothing;" and "God Don't Play," which marked her debut on the New York Times extended best-sellers list.

With the release of "Deliver Me from Evil," Monroe said she's hoping for another New York Times hit.

T&D Features Writer Candace Newson can be reached by e-mail at cnewson@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5540. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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